Progressives identify America‘s ’Top 5 Most Conservative Colleges’

Great news, high school juniors & seniors. In case you haven’t narrowed down which colleges you plan to apply to over the next year, the kind folks over at ThinkProgress have taken it upon themselves to compiles five of the best.

Ok, that’s probably not exactly how the progressive bloggers view their new list of “America’s Top 5 Most Conservative Colleges,” but I have to believe that if these schools are being labeled by the left as the “most right-wing places of higher learning”, they must be doing something right:

5. Patrick Henry College: After a documentary exposed the surprising number of students at Patrick Henry College with high level internships in the Bush administration, the school has gained scrutiny for its extensive ties to the Republican Party and social conservative groups.

4. Hillsdale College: The school was in the news recently when it was revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose the Hillsdale salary of his wife Ginni Thomas. Called the “citadel of American conservatism,” Hillsdale features academics like Rush Limbaugh fill-in Mark Steyn, and is said to be a pipeline to Republican jobs on Capitol Hill. [Editor's note: Hillsdale also places a strict emphasis on studying the U.S. Constitution. Oh, the horror.]

3. George Mason University: George Mason University has served as a libertarian enclave with close ties to K Street lobbyists since the 1980s, when Charles Koch began donating heavily to the school. Koch Industries’ executive vice president for public policy, Rich Fink, heads two Koch programs at the school. Matt Kibbe and other leading libertarian activists are alumni of George Mason’s free market economics department.

2. King’s College: In 1997, the Campus Crusade for Christ International purchased King’s College, a New Jersey-based school that had been shuttered since 1944, and reestablished it on two floors of the Empire State Building in New York City. Led by Dinesh D’Souza, author of a book this year arguing that President Obama’s Kenyan heritage gives him a third world “anti-colonial” mindset, the school has gained a reputation for training dogmatically conservative Christian activists.

1. Liberty University: Founded by the late televangelist preacher Jerry Falwell in 1971, Liberty has prided itself as one of the most influential Christian colleges in the nation. Despite the fact Liberty receives about $445 million in yearly taxpayer subsidies, the school prohibits openly gay students and College Democrats. While the school has received much scorn for its teaching of youth earth creationism, it boasts a world class debating team coached by a former Bush adviser.

In case you’re wondering, ThinkProgress says they decided on these schools for their “Top 5” because of their “influence in the conservative movement and notable alumni.”